Trapped!
by purple-witch93
Summary: Sakura finds Itachi and is desperate to capture him for Sasuke. But when an attack is dodged by running into a large container, and a missingnin follows carelessly, the two are locked inside and are forced to work together to get out. ItaSaku
1. Chapter One: Mission

Chapter one: The Mission

Sakura ran, one of the dogs were barking loud at her ankles and the other stayed a few meters in front, leading the way to the base of a scent. Sakura ran through the town, passing large amounts of people, and getting looks from those she shoved. The dog in front was going quickly and she needed to keep up as the other one was still barking for company. Her green eyes pierced the ground around her.

The dog in front turned, she turned, the dog behind her hesitated, then turned. The most fierce, and the one who was leading the way had slowed, as their surroundings had changed completely. Sakura shifted, _this is going to be hard to find him,_ she thought.

The ground was covered with large containers that were filled with crates. Sakura's breath was caught somewhere in her, as a feeling of dread washed over. They couldn't see over the top of the containers, which meant that it would be harder to catch someone of they were running.

"Bark if you find something," she mumbled to the dogs that were standing next to her.

"Scream if you do," the one that had been leading them told her. Sakura nodded, eyes gazing at the ground around her, again. She ran as fast as she could to one of the lanes that the containers had made. A random number of them were opened, which made them easier to hide in. Sakura sighed, very bothered that this was going to be so hard, but all the same her life had depended on this. After running through five lanes, Sakura saw something black whip the air as it disappeared around a corner. Silently, but still very fast, she ran to keep up with the thing that the black was connected to. The started breathing heavy in excitement. Her legs felt like jelly as so many emotions pang through her as if she was a sponge in water. She turned twice, once away from the lane she left behind, and another into the lane she wanted. Sakura saw who she wanted to see, and ran up to him, kunai in one hand. The black haired man turned to face her.

"Argh!" there was no point in not screaming out her frustration that the kunai could not hold, he had already seen her. Only with one hand, the man grabbed the wrist that held the kunai easily. In shock, Sakura dropped the kunai and tried wrestling out of his grip. But he held her tight. Sakura knew not to look in his eyes, that would be as bad as committing suicide. When she got the message that pulling away was only tightening the mans grip, she punched his shoulder with most of his chakra. The man was sent to the other end of the lane, Sakura ran after him again. By the time she had gotten to him, he was standing in an upright position as if nothing had happened only moments ago. This time the man ran, effortlessly, away from the pink haired ninja that was running towards him. After running for a few lanes, trying to shake the girl off, he turned to attack. Sakura gasped and stopped as kunais were thrown at her dangerously. To dodge them, she ran into one of the open containers. She fell to the ground, knowing the missing-nin would surely ran for it. But no sooner had she heard footsteps outside the container. Obviously he wanted her gone for good before she could report where he was to her village. Sakura stood, grabbing kunais from her pouch that hung behind her. Breathlessly, she hid behind one of the crates, which she found were full of weapons, and waiting. She heard footsteps clash with a faint echo of footsteps. She stood to see her enemy with another kunai and threw as many kunais at the man. He dodged, knocking the door shut. Sakura was about to run after the man before he could attack her, before breathing in breathlessly. Didn't weapon container walls have something that chakra couldn't touch, that were unbreakable, incase an enemy village tried to steal any. Sakura chose between finding the man and being safe, to her instincts. Sadly her instincts came before safety. She ran to the door and grabbed the latch pushing down. It was locked. She looked around to see if the man was around, he wasn't. _Is he coming up with a plan? Or is he watching me to see if we really trapped?_ Sakura thought. It didn't matter, because she was to busy controlling her chakra into her fist for a hard punch against the wall. She fell to the ground when she saw no damage had been created towards the wall.

"Damn," she panted. The man could still attack her with chakra as well, Sakura moaned in defeat. She was stuck in the container with a missing-nin. She turned and saw the sharingan user walk closely to her. She held her panting breath as she could almost smell him…

_Where is she?_ One of the dogs thought as they both barked. A shark-like man wearing a black coat with red clouds was smiling as he saw the dogs bark as much as their throats could take. Getting bored (as well as obtaining a headache) the man lunged at him with his sword.

Both dogs dodged. They kept barking and soon the man lunged at them again, only closely hitting one, and attacking another. The dog let out a painful yelp and the other charged. The man hit the attacking dog to lie down, with his friend. The blue coloured man walked away, smiling. He went to look for his partner, who had advised them to split up.

He searched for a while, waiting for his partner to show up and say they were leaving.

But he didn't show.

Kakashi met up with Naruto, Yamato and Hinata, all who where looking at two small figures on the ground.

"Kakashi!-" Naruto started. Pakkun walked over to the two dogs lying on the ground.

"It seems they were hurt pretty badly," Yamato said. Naruto remembered something.

"They were with Sakura!" he shouted. Hinata looked over her shoulders, as if to expect her to shout what took them so long, but alas, no Sakura came running up to pound Naruto's head.

"Do you think she might be in trouble?" Naruto hesitantly asked Kakashi, who looked down at the question.

"Hinata, do you recon you could find her with byakugan?" Naruto asked, desperately. Hinata nodded and used her special eyes. Naruto looked up to the sky worried what the answer would be. Minutes later Hinata let out a breath, and shook her head.

"I can't find a trace, it's like as if there's something hiding her chakra," she muttered. Kakashi looked over to a few containers.

"Weapon containers can do just that," he thought aloud. He looked at the other and they all nodded, realizing what he was getting to.

"But they also have other hiding features, depending on the village they're from," Yamato said. Kakashi thought about this. Hopefully, Sakura was trapped inside one that didn't have too many features.

"Everyone try looking, and I mean seriously looking. You might not be able to hear, see, smell or even _sense_ Sakura. So make sure you're looking very closely," he ordered. Everyone nodded again and split up.

Sakura lifted a kunai, which the man grabbed and threw to the other side of the container. He looked into her eyes, deciding her fate. The pink haired girl squirmed and tried to look away, but the man had forced her eyes to look his way. He let out a breath, deciding what would be best for himself. Sakura let a puzzled look out while she felt the man's hand fall from her own. She grabbed the sore wrist and rubbed it before turning to face the man, who had felt to wall then pushed the latch down. He turned from the door, Sakura didn't know if she saw a minuscule of annoyance for a millisecond in the man's face. He turned towards her and grabbed her other wrist again, forcing her to look into his face. Sakura had tried to look away, but he called her name, which he must've read up from somewhere.

"Haruno Sakura," he said softly. Sakura frowned a little before saying, grudgingly…

"Uchiha Itachi."


	2. Chapter Two: Locked Inside

**A/N: I'm actually not ALL for the whole ItaxSaku thing, but I was watching an NCIS episode when the two got stuck in a container. Only this is a different plot but same setting! Enjoy !!!!!!**

Chapter Two: Locked Inside

Itachi let Sakura go. He was about to walk away when she held a kunai under his neck.

"We are stuck in here, and we'll need as much help as we can get. I highly doubt you would doom yourself and me," he said. Sakura blushed a little, she didn't like being found out, she couldn't believe that her enemy could read her like that, it was as if she was an open book. It was also a fact that they would need to get out before anyone that owned or hired the container would find them in there. If they were caught by a sand villager, Sakura would be safe and Itachi would be caught. But if they were both unlucky… Itachi had walked over to one of the crates to have a look at who they belonged to. Sakura saw some form of disappointed emotion came for a moment. She wouldn't have caught it if she blinked. The s rank missing-nin walked away, allowing Sakura to read her fate. Sakura hoped that the disappointment in it all was that it was the sand, and Itachi was upset about getting caught while she was free. But it was worst.

"Mist…". Sure the Mist wasn't the largest enemy of Konoha, but they were enemies all the same, with no emotions and by far the best of the best. Luck was certainly not with Sakura, this would happen to be the worst Village to be caught in a container by. She looked over to Itachi who was obviously making some kind of plan to get himself out of there. Sakura leaned against a pile of crates and slid down to sink into the floor. She was annoyed by the fact that the floor was a solid, like her, and wouldn't allow her to move any further. Sakura thought of a plan, but first she would need a mental list of all the things she knew about the Mist and how they would possibly protect a container full of weapons. It was a good thing that she had looked up what Mist, Rock and Sand would do to protect themselves whilst she was training with Tsunade. She hit the floor, hoping some damage would come from their, but it only crumbled five centre meters before hitting the base of the ground. Sakura looked up with a sigh, there had to be some way out, even Itachi was thinking alone. She could show a way that she was smarter than him by coming up with something, but Mist was very strong and smart. Sakura listed the defenses…1. Soundproof, nobody could hear either of them and save them. 2. Chakra proof, they couldn't attack their way out like Sakura would've hoped. 3. Coldness, with every passing minute the temperature dropped. 4. No electricity, that meant no radios, radiators or communication to the outside.

These were only some of the things, Sakura had learnt them all but the Mist could've hid some things from Konoha. After countless minutes passed while Itachi and Sakura bothed thought about how to get out, Itachi sighed. Sakura looked over to him and walked over. They both knew what the other was going to say…

"If we're going to get out of here, we'll have to work together," they announced to the other, who would announce it to them. Sakura nodded and Itachi just looked at her. Sakura sat down to talk about the ways out…there was just the problem that there was no way. She looked up to see sharingan staring into her own eyes. Blushing, Sakura awkwardly sat up and listed the defenses. Itachi would just nod his head as if he were flinching, Sakura could barely see it.

"…so, what're we supposed to do?" Sakura groaned in dismay. Itachi held out a hand, as if to shake, then he talked again.

"First, we should make a vow that we shall not attack the other. That means no attacks in the container, and if one of our teams comes to find us we shall not attack, and we shall not allow the others to attack," he said. Sakura hesitated. If she said yes, that would mean that Itachi would run, so she wouldn't be able to find Sasuke. But if she said no, the chances of living was one out of three. If a Mist member found them because the refused to help each other, they're dead. If one or more of Itachi's teammates found them, she's dead. The only other thing was that one of her teammates found her, and all the same, it might not happen if Itachi and her refused to work together.

"Well?" Itachi asked, his sharingan was searching Sakura's mind. With a sound that was a cross between a groan and a sigh, Sakura reached her hand out to meet Itachi's, and they both shook.

"Fine, now that we got that out of the way…" Sakura started, forcing her hand away from his, she didn't want to be touching that Uchiha, the one who had killed his whole family except for one, just to see how strong he was. She crossed her arms and started to look into Itachi's eyes, trying to read his own mind. Itachi was a bit puzzled in his mind, he had thought the pink haired girl would surely refuse, and then afterwards she was looking in his eyes, trying to search his mind. He supposed she thought it was alright now, now that they had made a vow not to hurt each other, which meant safety without sharingan or mangekyou to threaten her. Itachi stood to take a look at their surroundings, whilst Sakura kept thinking in her mind. Sakura could hear Itachi's steps echo through the container, they were loud and continuous through the prison-like place. _…and yet nobody outside can hear a bomb explode from in here, _Sakura thought.

"They aren't that bad," Itachi said, returning from his short check-up. Sakura stared at him in horror, _aren't that bad?!_ They were both stuck in there with no way out and Mist ninjas would surely come to kill them in any moment.

"They left a few holes to breathe through. Sound cant go through the gaps," Itachi replied to Sakura's face. Sakura looked down. _Still stuck in here,_ she thought.

"Wonder how long it'll take until they come to check on the container," Sakura mumbled.

"They'll come by mid-day tomorrow," Itachi said. Sakura looked up at him.

"I had to search up on a jinchuuruki from the Mist, learnt a lot," Itachi barely said. Sakura blinked at him before standing, the atmosphere was gaining coldness, but she ignored it.

"Tomorrow, I hope it doesn't take us that long to get out," she added. To stop thinking about getting freezed, Sakura looked at the ground, studying its every exact features. When she looked up it was strange to stand Itachi sitting there, looking at her. She blushed and looked away, arms folded over each other as if she was pissed with him. The missing-nin got the message and looked at the walls, trying to find a crack in the chakra blocking device. Itachi wanted to leave the pink haired ninja from his home village as much as he could tell she wanted to leave that container. He turned around to face her gain and saw her facing a wall, either she was trying not to face him or she was concentrating.

"What did you want me for?" Itachi asked her. Sakura looked over at him, with a cross look on her face.

"I don't want _you_, I want who's after you," she replied bluntly.

"Sasuke?"

"Of course! I just can't wait to get out of here…then we can both run and I can continue looking for you all over again!" she shouted. Itachi got the feeling that she was mad. Itachi took a second look at the place to leave the girl alone, he got the feeling that Sasuke was more than a teammate to her, and one way of guessing this was the fact that she was now sitting again, leaning on one of the crates. He turned from her and looked through some of the other piled crates, filled with weapons that he could easily use to kill off the other prisoner in this container. After minutes of checking, Itachi walked over to the air hole and looked out. There was no point in shouting, and anyone outside would hardly tell that there was a hole in one of the thousand containers. He looked out, hoping soon that a blue-skinned man would shortly pass and then Itachi could find a way to contact him. Itachi went to put his hand through the hole but just as his fingers got close, a bolt went through him. He pulled away quickly and continued to look out the hole.

Sakura shivered once more. She was alone in the container and by her estimation, the atmosphere inside would be freezing point by sunrise tomorrow. At the moment, she had another estimate, that the container was ten degrees, which was feeling a lot like it was raining in there. Sakura sniffled a little before standing again, she needed to move around so that she could get some warmth.

_Maybe _he _found a way out,_ Sakura thought for a moment, or more like hoped. She passed a few crates that were stacked up and saw Itachi looking out the hole, sun covering up the two sharingan eyes. She coughed and his face turned to greet her, in a way. He glared into her, as if she was some pesky girl that he could scare away. Maybe he thought that if she got scared enough she would scream and run into a wall and it would fall down. No such luck though, as she kept coughing. He wondered what was wrong with her for a minute before she fell to the ground, catching herself with her hands. Sakura was now coughing on the ground, if she wasn't careful she might scratch her throat and it would bleed. Soon she felt warmth around her. She looked up to see an S rank missing-nin wrapping his arms around her, not as a hug, but just to keep her warm.

_His large cloak must be protecting him from the cold,_ Sakura thought, blushing. She shook her head to stop the coughing, and the blushing, and soon she was standing again, as though no coldness could touch her now pale skin.

"You should be more careful," Itachi said. Sakura looked down at him as he got up.

"Have you found anything yet?" she asked him.

"No, it seems the only other chance we have, other than waiting for help, is to attack the enemy when they open the doors."

Sakura sighed, looking at the ground. "Damn…"

They sat and waited for the sun to set, even though Sakura's arms grew colder. Itachi didn't seem to notice, although he felt worried about the girl, if she just fell and wouldn't stand back up, there was no such thing as hope. They continued to talk to each other, helping each other, although they acted as if they were strong enough to attack the other and leave freely.


	3. Chapter Three: These Painful Emotions

**A/N: I'm enjoying writing this, so it doesn't even matter that I'm not getting reviews. Life is wonderful. Alright now that I got all my happiness out for the week, onto my destiny, writing fanfictions that has nothing to do with my true destiny, which is to write my own series (I even got the plot for it)!!! I smell love in this chapter XD **

Chapter Three: Painful Emotions

Naruto stayed with the containers, Kakashi searched the town and areas close by, while Hinata and Yamato went to inform the fifth Hokage that her apprentice had been missing since mid-day. Naruto's forehead cringed under its protector, he had already lost someone close to him, he didn't want to loos Sakura too. The two dogs had mentioned that an Akatsuki member had been there to attack, and Naruto knew that Akatsuki always traveled in pairs, so where there was one, there was another. Hopefully Sakura hadn't been hurt by one of them, or worst, killed. But Kakashi had told him that they shouldn't give up until they find a body whether it was dead or alive, and Naruto agreed, but hoped with all his might that she would be alive. The full moon shone through the clouds and Naruto could easily see everything, if there was anything other than containers and crates. Naruto's feet hurt and he wanted to sigh and lean up against a large pile of containers, but he kept moving on, as if there was no pain.

As he walked, Naruto would sometimes look up at the full moon.

"Sakura-chan…"

"Naruto-kun," Sakura said, under her heated breath. The air was frozen yet she wouldn't listen to Itachi, about whatever he said, whenever she clutched her head and bent down. It had possibly been an hour ago since Itachi started to gain goosebumps under his cloak, Sakura had noticed, even behind his hiding face. The pain in her brain was unnatural, as if she had bought the coldest drink and slurped it down as fast as she could, or if she ran into a lake in the middle of Winter. Sakura's arms started to hurt from shivering every so often.

"So if we cant think of a plan, we attack when the Mist ninjas strike?" she asked Itachi, grabbing at her hair. Itachi nodded for the third time in five years. Sakura nodded, then stood up. She needed to move, and soon, VERY soon.

"I'll be over here," Sakura said. She didn't want Itachi to know what she was doing, because if he was smarter than her, he would know the consequences of her actions. She moved toward a corner hidden by crates and started jogging on the spot, then did more actions that may make her warmer. Sakura coughed, the cold air was swiftly making their way to her lungs with every movement. Though her chest hurt, she continued doing what she knew was utterly stupid, in a way to make herself warmer. She coughed, and fell to the floor. Her eyes opened fully as she coughed some more, she could feel a painful freeze in her lungs, as the coldness striked her insides.

Sakura fell to the floor her eyes slightly opened, she could hardly move, every spot in her body was frozen. She could hear someone calling her name. She saw the man come closer to her now frozen body and bend down. Her eyes were blurry and all she could make out was the black hair and red eyes. _Sasuke?_

Itachi looked at the pink haired girl on the ground. He had a slight idea what she was doing, and he shook his head as if silently telling her off. Her green eyes looked through him, lifeless. Sakura had obviously knocked herself out and was unable to close her eyes. Itachi looked down at the girl with concerned eyes, and pulled his Akatsuki cloak of, and wrapping her inside it. He left the girl to sleep and sat down on a crate. It was no wonder why she had exercised to make herself warm, it was nine o'clock and she had noted to him that it would take seven more hours until freezing point. Itachi noted that it would take two for her to wake up. He sighed and stood, pacing to get an idea that would get him, no both of them, out of the container.

"So we're looking for her now, are we?" Sai asked Naruto. The blonde nodded. Kakashi thought they might need a helping hand, so a asked Pakkun to call Sai for help. "And Kakashi is currently looking around, outside the area she was last seen?"

"Yes…" Naruto said, his eyes caught on the ground. Sai nodded, understandingly, then went to patrol his half of the area. Naruto felt something cool on his cheek and went to feel it. When he pulled away he saw the crystal liquid of a tear.

"Sakura…" he muttered. "Sakura!"

Sakura's eyes opened. It took her a few seconds to realize where she was, then it made her even more shocked to feel warmth. _Why is it warmer?_ Sakura asked herself. She turned her head to look up. When she saw Itachi sitting next to her, without his cloak, she blushed. Mentally swearing at herself, Sakura looked around for his Akatsuki cloak, then was surprised to find herself wrapped it in.

"Itachi?" Sakura felt something in her stomach when she said his name…and when he looked at her. She tried to control herself, she didn't have any feelings for him, she had feelings for Sasuke who _looked_ like him.

"What you did was stupid," Itachi started.

"How long have I been out for," Sakura interrupted.

"A little over two hours," he replied.

"Oh, right."

They both stood, Sakura felt the cloak fall off her, then there was the sensation of cold wind covering her body.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"Possibly eleven, so that makes five more hours," he replied. Sakura picked up his cloak and through it at him. Itachi grabbed it puzzled.

"It's yours," she replied, trying to looked disgusted by that fact, but the disgusted look she was going for turned out shy and red.

"You should wear it. You've been bare for longer," Itachi said turning away. Sakura turned away as well, but once Itachi heard her footsteps walk off, he grabbed the cloak back up. Everything went so quickly, Sakura didn't even have time to blink. When she opened her eyes she saw that she was wearing the cloak and Itachi was behind her. Sakura looked behind her, into the sharingan eyes that glared back. _IS he worried about me? _she thought.

"I think I can hear footsteps…" he said, and walked towards the gap in the wall. Sakura watched him leave and sat down. There was so many questions in her head, she felt too dizzy to stand.

"Just a dog," Itachi said when he returned. Sakura nodded, looking at the ground.

"Just a do- wait! A dog!" she yelled. Itachi was thrown back at this.

"Yes, but it ran passed us," he said. Sakura groaned.

"Darn. It could've been one of my sensei's," she mumbled. Itachi looked at the wall, then sat down next to Sakura.

"At least it gave you hope for a while."

_What?_ Sakura never thought of Itachi being a person that looked on the bright side of things.

"Er…yeah, 'suppose."

The two sat in awkward silence for awhile, Sakura daring herself to speak. But every time she opened her mouth, she closed it again, blushing. Sooner or later, the question was burning her mind, until she finally asked it.

"Itachi, why did you make me wear your coat?" she blurted. Sakura looked at the ground immediately, blushing and mentally swearing. Itachi took his time replying.

"Because, you looked cold."  
"Why would you care?"

Another pause.

"We-" Sakura was forced to stop as she felt something on her mouth. When she regained her vision to look just passed her nose, she saw Itachi kissing her. Sakura thought that she would be the one to pull away, but instead she closed her eyes and kissed him back.

Again, questions poured into her head from every entrance, but they were no longer for anyone else but herself. _Why am I kissing him? Don't I like Sasuke? Why should I care? Why cant I break away? Is this some kind of trick?_

Sakura felt Itachi's lips leave hers and he attacked her neck. Sakura moaned as she felt his lips against her cold bare skin. Itachi left Sakura's neck and was soon looking into her eyes.

"That's why…"

Kisame had been sitting in the same spot for the past eight hours. Before he had been sitting, he had been looking for Itachi for two hours. He had fled when he heard the Kyuubi container and two others searching for someone.

It was normal for Kisame to be found by Itachi waiting while sitting down, if the mission meant splitting up. But this time Kisame was thinking about going after Itachi, who may be in awkward trouble. First Kisame made a list of all the things he should check out while going down where there would be enemies. Either Itachi had already gone back. He is or had been in a battle with the Kyubbi and is close to or is dead. He has been captured in one of the weapon containers, either from Village Hidden Among Rocks or Village Hidden In Mist. He chuckled a bit, trying to picture Itachi trapped in a massive container.

After Kisame thought about what he needed to look out for, he stood. _If_ Itachi was indeed trapped in a container, Kisame would have to look out for fist size holes on the side or a dip in the ground that made a container look like it was sinking. _If_ Itachi was battling the Kyuubi, well, it shouldn't be THAT hard to find him. Kisame would look for an hour before going back, where he would think Itachi would be.

**A/N: I really don't know why I'm writing this, but my mum invited my friends over and asked me to sit down and talk with them. I told her I was practising my skillz for my series. She said I'd neva do the anywayz DX!!!! So then I wrote this and she begged me to let her read, but then I said, HELL NO!! I don't want my mum to read the romantic side of me. She thinks I'm all for death. Anyway, so this is the strange part of me, hiding under the first layer of hyperness, the second layer of emoness, the third layer of foodness, the fourth layer of funnyness, the fifth layer of another hyperness and the sixth layer of evilness.**


	4. Chapter Four: Evil Found First

**A/N: Last chappie and I'm almost asleep, so to anyone out there who thinks this is soo stupid, I say you're a lollipop. **

Chapter Four: Evil Found First

Itachi was still awake, keeping watch while Sakura still laid in half of his cloak. Of course, nothing had happened, Itachi didn't want her to think he was using her. So they kissed a little, so what? Sakura had forced him to share his Akatsuki cloak with her, and he had, only because he knew that it would be freezing point, right? He didn't accept because _she_ had forced him to, he didn't do it because she had a heart of fire. Itachi gained an idea. He pulled the cloak off and stood, making hand movement quickly, even though there was possibly half an hour until the sun rose.

Itachi pulled chakra from his mouth into his chest, then blew it all out immediately. A great rush of fire flew from his mouth, but instead of filling some of the container, it flew out just four meters in front of him. It had heated things up for a few seconds. Then the air felt cold and dead gain. Itachi collapsed next to Sakura, this time refusing to put the coat back on himself. Sakura's eyes flittered open and she bolted upright.

"Itachi, you okay?" she asked. Itachi merely nodded weakly. That katon goukakyuu no jutsu had taken a lot out of him while doing it in a place like this.

"Alright then. So, anything new to the plan?" Sakura said with a smile, although her voice sounded like it came from anything but that.

"No, nothing," Itachi said. Sakura kept smiling, but her eyes traveled away from Itachi. Although Itachi was trying to prove to himself that the pink haired ninja had absolutely nothing to do with him, he moved his way towards Sakura and grabbed her chin, pulling it to face him. He closed his lips over hers and gave her another kiss. Sakura kissed him back, with full passion. At least there was company while they were stuck in the container.

Kisame had noticed one container sinking. He had smashed it open and found a large rock in front of his way. Kisame had easily smashing the rock to pieces and found three bloody bodies within the crumbs of earth. The crates had been untouched, as the rock had moved around them, but the three crushed bodies, covered with blood, were easily told dead. Kisame went around and picked up each of their head, looking at their faces. None of them had looked like Itachi in the slightest way. So Kisame had left the container, leaving the bloody corpse's alone.

He had done the same thing twice, each with different numbers of different looking people. Each time Kisame would take a look and then leave them in their own blood.

He had also been through three containers the had holes in them, two of them had frost-bitten people trapped in them, dead in the frozen air, the last one still had living people in them, but after much examining, Kisame walked away, knowing that not one of the seven people trapped in there was Itachi.

Naruto had found himself a tree, and he was now looking down at the maze of containers as a whole. Everyone and everything that he saw in there were ants, but he could easily identify that none of them was Sakura. There were three people with black hair, the shortest was Sai. The other two were men that had been going through some fishing.

Two dogs that had previously been accompanying Sai, were now in separate places, though Naruto could hardly tell that they were there, because of the sizes they were to him.

A blonde, two brunettes, and a red head were now talking, whilst moving some crates out of a container.

There were other people around, but only woman and girls attracted Naruto's attention. Naruto chuckled, yet solemnly, at this. Usually he had done this to peek on woman, but now he was doing this to find Sakura. Three men had arrived into the maze, two woman, six kids playing around, a man with blue hair, two teenagers were taking a short cut. If Naruto wasn't looking for Sakura, he might've noticed Kisame, but his mind was too busy at that time. As the sun rose, Naruto started to think how Kakashi and Sai were doing.

"I wonder if Naruto knows that I'm in here…" she muttered. Itachi looked at her, his eyes furrowed.

"Well, you cant let him worry, can you?" he told her. Sakura's face shot back at Itachi, puzzled. Then her face returned to a smile, only this one was warmer than the last, and she looked down into her lap, looking through it, thinking. A tear fell from her cheek.

"No, I can't," she said in a blur of silent sobs.

"You should sleep some more," Itachi said. Sakura shook her head and pulled the coat off quickly, to check the hole in the wall. Once she got there, she gasped at what she saw. The sky was a cross between purple and blue. Pink yellow and orange played with each other in the clouds. She looked down, only just realizing that her skin had gone a tinge of purple.

"Mid-day," Sakura said under her breath. Then she collapsed under the weight of her own body. Itachi was quick to grab the falling girl and hold her. He wrapped her with the cloak again, then placed her on his lap, sheltering her from the cold that was rapidly reaching their lungs.

Itachi felt no hope of survival. They wouldn't even be able to attack when the Mist ninjas came, the damage from the cold had gone so badly. After looking at Sakura's sleeping body, Itachi removed her from his arms and placed her slowly on the ground. Then he walked over to the hole himself, to see what had taken away Sakura's hopes.

The sun was rising, which meant that there was only a short time until mid-day, when the Mist ninjas would attack them. Itachi sighed, yet was breathless. His mind started to blur, even with his sharingan.

Itachi fell, unable to keep his own balance, under the hole. He thudded his head back into the wall, only just realizing the color of his own skin. It was purple with some orange in places. It was strange to see outside the hole was a place where the sun shone, where birds sang. Yet right in the middle of it all was a place where you were able to get frost bite. Even with his swirled vision, Itachi saw the light from the hole vanish from the crate opposite it. Itachi tried to stand, failing.  
"Itachi?" he heard a recognizable voice.

"Hn?"

A sigh had followed.  
"How long have you been trapped," Kisame asked.

"Since mid-day yesterday," Itachi said, unable to show the fact he didn't like the word 'trapped'.

"You wonna get out, or shall I leave you?"

"I'd like to get out, actually," Itachi replied, the sarcasm was barely noticeable in his words.

The light had returned to the crate and Itachi heard a crash as the door was forced open. The heat returned to the container, and Sakura hadn't even stirred from the loud crash. Her strength was obviously at a minimum.

Itachi stood, as hard as it was to keep the smoothness and pride with him. He walked towards Sakura and covered her with his coat before following Kisame.

"She has helped me stay alive, and we made a promise to each other," Itachi said, answering to Kisame's face.

"And you'll expect her to be safer at the Akatsuki?" Kisame said, as they walked away from the container. Itachi felt Sakura's breathing against his chest.

"No, I will drop her somewhere where we will not be attacked. I suspect she has teammates looking for her, and it would definitely not be smart to drop her somewhere where we will be noticed and attacked."

Kisame nodded.

"So you gave her the coat instead of wearing it to keep warm?" Kisame asked.

"I needed her trust. That is all."

When the two had reached the outskirts of the town, where the forest would start, Itachi dropped the girl where no one would notice, and left with Kisame.

"I thought you already gained her trust?"

"I can get a new one."

"Sakura," Kakashi said, shrugging the sleeping girl. The purple had left her face, and now Sakura was just white. Sakura had opened one eye.

"Kakashi-sensei?" she asked. Kakashi sighed in relief. He thought his student had been killed. It wasn't everyday you find your student wrapped in an S rank criminal-nin's cloak. Although Kakashi wanted to remove it off Sakura, she looked way too sick to remove something that would warm her.

"Come on, Sakura. Naruto and Sai should be waiting," Kakashi said. Sakura had tried to stand. She found the cloak wasn't just wrapped around her this time, it was actually put on her. Though Sakura ignored how long it was, she still could not find a way to lift her tired feet from the ground. Kakashi groaned before picking the girl up, bridal style.

Sakura smiled.

"Thank you, sensei," she said. Kakashi thought that she had meant for picking her up.  
"Oh I would've done it for any student," he replied. Sakura's eyes closed a fraction. _I meant for letting me keep the Akatsuki cloak,_ she had thought.

In a flash, Sakura was back in the maze. Pakkun, who had followed Kakashi all this time, was barking for everyone to meet up with them. But he didn't need to for Naruto, who had seen Kakashi run to one of the edges of the maze. Naruto's fast pace slowed a fraction when he saw what Sakura was wearing. He was about to speak when he heard a slight snore. Sakura's bright green eyes were hidden under her eyelids.

"'Suppose she's sleeping…" Naruto mumbled.

"What do you think happened?" asked Sai, who had just arrived with the other two dogs.

"I suspect that she was chasing an Akatsuki and was trapped with either him or her in a Mist weapon container," Kakashi said.

"Pervert," Naruto grumbled.

"Actually I was serious," Kakashi said.

"Oh."

"Well, when she wakes I'm sure we can ask her," Kakashi said.

"We should return to Konoha to tell them that she's been found," Sai said.

Naruto and Kakashi nodded.

On their way back to Konoha, nobody but Kakashi heard the pink haired ninja mutter a name in her sleep.

"Itachi…"

"…Sakura"

**A/N: Aww so cute. Alright…well I'm gonna go to bed, since I can hardly keep up with what I'm writing, and I suppose that's not the best thing is it? Wow, words make I dizzy. Sleep must me do… --**


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